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Press release
Upazila Parishad Election-2024 (1st Phase)
Astounding growth of income and assets of candidates in local govt. elections;
56% of them businessmen: TIB
Dhaka, 06 May 2024: The influence of businessmen is increasingly evident in local government elections, leading to a dominance of personal interest or profit-centered politics over public welfare. Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) made this observation during a press conference held to analyze the affidavits of candidates for the Sixth Upazila Parishad Election-2024 (1st Phase). The anti-corruption organization also noted a growing tendency to view elections as an investment opportunity ignoring public interest, even at the grassroots level.
According to TIB’s analysis of candidate affidavits, the growing influence of businessmen in local government elections is similar to the national election. The proportion of candidates with business backgrounds has risen by 8 percentage points compared to the fourth election, reaching 56 percent. Among these candidates, approximately 69.86 per cent of chairman candidates, 66.59 per cent of vice chairman candidates, and 24.37 per cent of female vice chairman candidates are involved in businesses. Additionally, 19.5 per cent of candidates listing housewife/housekeeper as their profession derive income from business ventures.
Speaking at the press conference, TIB Executive Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said, “In our country, politics and public representation are power-oriented. Personal gain often takes priority over public welfare. Additionally, principles such as respect for the law, party discipline, and adherence to party decisions, which are expected from democratic institutions like political parties, are now held hostage to power politics. The pursuit of political power is seen as a pathway to unlimited wealth expansion, resulting in unhealthy competition. Of concern is whether businessmen entering politics are following proper procedures and engaging in fair competition. Those who still aspire to promote a healthy, people-oriented political culture are now nearly extinct or marginalized in the face of power politics.”
In continuation of the analysis of the national parliamentary election, TIB conducted dashboard analysis and reviewed affidavits of candidates participating in Upazila Parishad elections. Analysis of affidavits from the first phase of Upazila elections revealed a significant increase in movable assets among elected Upazila Parishad representatives compared to parliamentarians. Over a 5-year period, the growth rate of movable assets among parliamentarians reached a staggering 3,065 per cent, while Upazila Parishad chairmen witnessed an increase of over 4,200 per cent. Furthermore, the income of a chairman saw a maximum growth of 3,319 per cent over 5 years and an astounding 18,233 per cent over 10 years. Movable assets experienced a growth of 4,251 per cent, with the highest increase in assets belonging to wives and dependents recorded at 12,400 per cent.
TIB Executive Director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman termed the results of the analysis as shocking, and said, “From the analysis, we see that the earnings of many candidates have increased astonishingly, and in some cases, the rate of increase of income and wealth is even higher than that of national election candidates. There are also doubts whether the information provided in the affidavits are legit or correct. Some candidates have presented very low income, which is unbelievable.”
He continued, “The reality is that we are only getting information by analyzing the affidavits of the candidates. However, we are not getting any reliability, verification, implementation of laws, or any positive results. It is disappointing that the ones designated to verify the information on the affidavits, the Election Commission (EC), the National Board of Revenue (NBR), or the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) are not carrying out their duties proactively, which is disappointing.”
The analysis of affidavits also portrayed how at least 09 candidates own more land than the legal limit of 100 bigha or 33 acres. Moreover, 23.41 per cent candidates have loans or liabilities. Among them, the highest amount of loan is BDT 1,528 crore. The analysis further shows that 16.64 per cent candidates in the first phase of the Upazila elections have been accused in legal cases. On the other hand, only 7 per cent of candidates of the first phase of Upazila Elections are multi-millionaires based on movable assets. Apart from them, around 9 per cent candidates have movable assets less than a crore BDT. Among chairman position aspirants, 94 candidates are multi-millionaires. Compared to the previous election, that number has increased almost three folds (37 multi-millionaires in the 5th election). Among the vice-chairman candidates 17 are multi-millionaires, while 6 candidates are multi-millionaires among women vice-chairman aspirants. In both cases, the numbers have increased by almost three folds. Other than that, 198 chairman candidates earn a minimum of a million BDT annually, which is 35.23 per cent of the total candidates. This is almost 2.5 times that of the election held 5 years ago. Likewise, the number of vice-chairman and women vice-chairman with similar incomes have increased by almost three times.
The analysis of Upazila Election affidavits showed that the participation of women is less compared to the national election. There are only 25 women candidates for the chairman post in the Upazila Elections. Overall, analysis shows that 40 per cent of the candidates do not have taxable incomes as they stated their incomes less than BDT 3.5 lakhs annually. Only 10 per cent of the candidates have presented their incomes to be more than BDT 16 lakhs. Almost 93 per cent of candidates have assets valued less than a crore BDT, while the rest of the 7 per cent have assets valued more than a crore BDT.
The analysis and its results were presented in the press conference by TIB’s Director of Outreach and Communication, Mohammad Tauhidul Islam. TIB Executive Director (ED) Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, and assistant coordinators Rifat Rahman, K.M. Rafiqul Alam and Ikramul Haque Evan were also present. The ‘Know Your Candidate (KYC)’ dashboard containing the multi-dimensional and comparative analysis, overall picture, and Upazila-based comparisons based on 8 types of information provided in almost 4,800 affidavits of the 4th, 5th, and 6th upazila elections have been published on TIB website. The publicly accessible dashboard is available here – https://www.ti-bangladesh.org/kyc
